The warm spring water instantly embraced the body that had just entered it.
Chloe's black curly hair was soaking wet, clinging to her slender neck and bare shoulders and back.
Water droplets rolled down her hair, sliding over her firm, wheat-colored skin.
Her skin glowed with a healthy luster in the misty steam, like a meticulously polished, honey-colored amber steeped in a warm spring.
Most striking were the clear tan lines on her shoulders, neck, waist, and abdomen.
The warm white skin, untouched by the sun's kiss, was like delicate silk ribbons, forming a stark contrast with the surrounding wheat-colored skin, exuding an untamed and vibrant wild beauty.
After entering the water, she glided silently across the surface like an elegant black fish, leaving only gently rippling wakes behind her.
With clear intent, she swam towards Goluthos, who was quietly soaking in a corner of the pool.
Goluthos could clearly feel the disturbance of the water approaching.
In Chloe's perception, as fellow women, being naked in a hot spring was nothing but natural.
But Goluthos didn't think so.
This was her first time being so intimately close to another woman, and that unfamiliar intimacy made her heart tremble slightly.
Nervous, yet expectant...
She instinctively shrank her body further into the water, her small chin almost buried, her long white hair floating on the surface, her arms slightly wrapped around her front, trying to hide her awkwardness, along with her delicate body, in this not-so-clear spring water.
Chloe's presence silently enveloped her.
She said nothing, simply drawing closer naturally.
The mist was thick, and visibility was very low, making it hard to see clearly, but it amplified the sensitivity of her other senses.
Chloe's hand gently rested on Goluthos's slender, rounded shoulder.
Her fingertips had slight calluses, and her touch was gentle and comforting.
Just as Chloe had said, her fingers began to press down slowly along Goluthos's shoulder blade, neither too light nor too heavy, perfectly kneading the tense muscles.
Goluthos trembled slightly, like a startled butterfly's wing.
Chloe's dangling hair occasionally, with her movements, inadvertently brushed against Goluthos's exposed neck or smooth back.
Warm water ripples undulated between them.
Smooth skin occasionally brushed against each other in the shifting water.
Goluthos closed her eyes, her long white eyelashes adorned with tiny water droplets, trembling slightly with her subtle breaths.
All her senses seemed to be concentrated on her back.
Chloe's body temperature was transmitted through the water.
Her breath created warm, humid air that brushed against her sensitive earlobe, and those hands, wandering and lingering.
Silence permeated the mist, with only the gentle gurgling of the hot spring water.
A viscous, subtle sensation, like the rising mist, connected the two of them.
A strange, wordless resonance seemed to form between them.
This unspoken understanding was hotter than the hot spring water, silently passing between them.
Chloe's fingers continued to massage that delicate skin.
Each stroke was like a feather, lightly and subtly scratching at Goluthos's taut heartstrings.
Bringing warmth, thread by thread, quietly seeping in.
Just as this warm, numbing sensation was about to engulf Goluthos.
Without permission, or rather, never needing permission.
Chloe's left hand suddenly slid down, firmly clasping Goluthos's slender waist, drawing her even closer, securing her tightly in her embrace with a possessive dominance that was almost a declaration of ownership.
Chloe's other hand, as if merely to support balance, naturally slid along the curve of Goluthos's waist and abdomen.
The movement was so fluid it seemed like an inevitable push of the water current.
Goluthos's pupils suddenly constricted, her heart gave a fierce jolt, then was soothed by the spring water and the security of Chloe's embrace, the gasp she had held in her mouth finally transforming into a muffled hum in her throat, quietly swallowed by the hot spring steam.
"Lady Goluthos..."
In the open-air hot spring shrouded in night and mist, the Black King and Black Queen enjoyed the afterglow of victory.
Skin rubbed against skin, intimate and silent.
This was an instinct of beings from deep within their bloodline; over nine thousand years ago, the Black Queen's female warriors would comfort each other's souls and bodies in this manner, in the gaps between blood and fire.
No words were needed; the action itself was the deepest proof of friendship and bond.
And now, over nine thousand years later, it was still so.
Precious camaraderie, the bond of comrades-in-arms...
Goluthos's mouth trembled as it opened wide, her emerald pupils gradually dilating, gazing at the night sky, as if a galaxy flowed in her eyes.
Beautiful, sweet, as if all her previous efforts had received their deserved reward.
...
Crystalline water droplets watered the petals, reflecting a mesmerizing, decadent light under the moonlight.
It was Billie and Zoya who had activated the Abnormal Contamination Zone's irrigation system.
Accompanied by the whirring of gears and the roaring rush of water within the pipes, Billie dramatically clutched her head and wailed, her voice exceptionally clear at the edge of the silent contamination zone: "Ah—this isn't fair!"
"Why does Goluthos get to enjoy warmth and softness, while we're stuck here enduring the cold wind and turning valves?"
"I want to soak in a hot spring too! I want Chloe to massage me too!"
Zoya expressionlessly withdrew her hand from the valve, shaking off the rust, and upon hearing Billie, rolled her eyes dramatically: "Save it. Who even gets jealous of themselves? Her senses are your senses, aren't they?"
"Don't tell me you can't feel how comfortable that hot spring water is."
She clapped her hands and looked into the quarantine zone, "Focus, the mission isn't over yet."
Billie pouted aggrievedly, like a little pony that hadn't received praise from its owner, grumbling: "Hmph, it's comfortable, it's comfortable... but it's not the same!"
She seemed to be bothered by not being able to personally experience the comfort of being served.
Ignoring the very sour Billie, a nearly inaudible sigh escaped Zoya's lips: "The irrigation system is finally restarted. At least for now, we don't have to worry about our Joy Witch dying of thirst."
"But the problem is..." Billie also temporarily set aside her little mood, mimicking Zoya's gaze around, her small nose crinkling: "Where is she exactly?"
Zoya didn't answer; her gaze had already swept across the entire Abnormal Contamination Zone, her brows deeply furrowed.
Before them was a vast, unsettling crimson tide.
It was starkly different from the neat, artificially tamed black flower fields of the Fear Eater Rose.
The red flowers here looked as if they had been watered by a frantic dream.
Their shapes were distorted, and their sizes varied greatly.
Some were as massive as trucks, casting ominous shadows, while others were as tiny as mice, peeking out strangely from between the thorns.
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[email protected]/SolyuraMT
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